e e e e okay can I please have everybody's attention pursuant to the uh New Jersey open public meetings as njsa 10 4-10 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertising such notice in the home News Tribune the Asbury Park Press the board office the schools and on cable vision channel 118 and ver Verizon files channel 24 and filing such notice with the Township Clerk this meeting was scheduled for Tuesday January 23rd 2024 the board will take formal action on payment of bills and agenda items thank you the Oldbridge Township Board of Education acknowledges that the law of this state establishes that members of the public including members of the board have the right to record public board meetings using audio and video recording devices provided that the act of recording does not interfere with the business of this public board meeting therefore the board makes it known that any such recording is to be considered the private record reping of the individual and in no manner represents the official record of this board the board therefore takes no responsibility for such private recordings and completely disavows any future use thank you roll call Miss duno present Mr gardano here miss Jodi present Miss Francisco Miss lent Mr Marquetta miss maone here Mr Slade here a quorum exists oh Mr sukowski sorry a quorum exists okay would everybody please stand for the pledge States stand indice memor move the Board of Education acknowledge the death of Isa satelli District buade express its deepest sympathy to our family and friends thank you code of ethics the board member confines his or her board action to policym planning and Appraisal with help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them thank you District goals board goals okay okay I need a motion to accept the addendum D move second Miss was second thank you okay approval of minutes roll call Mr antono yes Mr gardano yes Miss jod yes Miss mazone yes Mr Slade yes Mr sulowski yes resolution of accepting the addendum passes thank you okay approval of minutes can I get somebody to uh move approval of minutes y jodan motion jel second thank you roll call Miss anuno yes Mr gardano yes Miss JRE yes Miss benon yes Mr Slade yes Mr sukowski yes resolution one passed thank you report of student representative to the board it's all yours thank you hi everyone um my name is Nessie for those who don't know I'm the sen representative for the board of AD meetings I hope you all stay in warm during the snow and the cold lots of days off um the second marking period is is over on Thursday so everyone's working really hard to make sure the Finish Mark perod is strong the Senate board uh went as well as other senate members recently traveled to tcj for the New Jersey Association of student councils uh winter convention uh there we attended workshops and like collaborated with other student councils in the state it was a really great experience uh winter sports are underway with multiple winds coming in bask girls basketball is actually having their first uh their senior night on Thursday and the girls track team uh plays first in their recent meet so the school Senate is planning a huge event on Friday February 16th from 6:00 to 10 p.m. the event is open to all students in the school they'll have like Inflatables a DJ a band a comedy show a skaper room food snacks and drinks the cost is $20 and includes everything like food snacks drinks everything um we're asking the community if they would like to contribute whether it be monetary or goods and and services to reach out to our adviser Miss OBD we need everyone's help to make this Ament of success all right and that's all for me very short um and if it's okay with you all right now Senate's having their bingo night in the cafeteria so I'm going to go over there to help out thank you very much you did a great job good luck with Bingo yes can I get somebody to move recognition please missone will move it I would like to separate number one G Dan second I'd like to separate number one for discussion uh I would like to separate number two for discussion okay um go ahead I would like to read the names of the people the staff who are retiring uh Shelly Berg Megan pra Christina Romeo Gina rero Lisa tonis Ida clz Hannah Wilkinson and Lori Ro rodrig um congratulations on your retirement and thank you for your dedication and service to Oldbridge Schools students and families thank you okay uh we have a recognition for uh can I get Mr uh sadino or superintendent and can I get uh Salvador and Jen to go up there and help Mr sadino with this award thank you can I have Christopher and his Scout um supporters come up behind him and come join me at the Days please Scout Masters as well everyone come all come up here Christopher the bordon I would like to congratulate you and recognize you for your fine work uh you are being recognized tonight by the board for your outstanding dedication to our special education PTA and assisting them with erecting a communication board at the John Glenn School your work will help families um communicate and better serve the needs of our students uh both during the school day and outside the school day so thank you so much and thank you for the scouts for the fine work that they [Applause] do anybody from the scouts want to say anything no plug away more projects coming up no well one of things I'm always proud about about is that uh at alge schools we support uh all the scouting Endeavors and if you need projects we'll give them to you uh so thank you very [Applause] much thank you okay do we have a superintendent's report wait I'm sorry roll call please I have more discussion I'm sorry sorry yeah I have more to discuss uh yes um Miss rodri 10th grade geometry honors thank you very much and um to uh Chris's Eagle Scout project um as a eagle scout myself I know how difficult it is to uh get the paperwork done you know get all the approvals and everything uh managing it so congratulations to you as well thank you thank you anyone else okay it is uh board I guess board members uh appreciation month the month of January isn't it that is and this let's present this so on behalf of the board I'd like to thank Cooper School corporate corporate thank you very much carpenter school I'm sorry I'm sorry carpenter [Applause] school post it's right in front of my face I still misread it so I apologize okay roll call please and recognition Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss Mone yes Mr sulowski yes Miss Jodi yes resolution one through two pass thank you okay we do we have a superintendent's report yes the first thing of order of business for a suant report is to further identify that it is board member appreciation month the month of January is where board me school board members from across uh the country are recognized for their volunteerism and helping communities build better schools uh you don't Garner a salary but I'm sure you get lots of love and support to capitalize on that we do have uh two of our staff members here from our transition planning program Miss Stacy Villa and Jessica Domino and they've brought with them our students from the transition planning program who work in our shop right right here at Oldbridge high school and they've made we care for you packages for our board members so students come on up and present our board members with their we care for you packages thank you Miss Domino thank you we really appreciate this your thoughtfulness thank you very much and thank you to the students for being here we will make sure that any packages that you have for the board members that aren't here we'll make sure we get get them to them so thank you very much can we ask the transition classroom to come on up and take a picture with the board oh come on e okay to the board members you did receive this report yesterday um I I presented it to you also in in print out version so you can follow along but every year superintendent are required to report to the board of education on the incidents of violence and vandalism which have occurred during uh in the school district during the previous year with the passage of public law 201022 the anti-bullying Bill of Rights incidents of Hib as well as violence and vandalism must reported be reported twice a year period one consists of data from September 1st through December 31st and period two consists of data from January 1st to June 30th of that same year both reports require a monthly collection of input into the state's Reporting System the state's reporting system is the NJ dooe student safety data system it's used to help school districts streamline entry data and Report accurately the student safety data system requires the collection of input from data from counts of incidents reporting on violence vandalism weapons and substance abuse also in the area of vandalism when police are notified when police are notified and a complaint is filed in school suspension is a a a byproduct of that vandalism out of school suspension expulsions unilateral removals or removal by an administrative law judge we list the offenders but not by name student offenders uh student victims School Personnel victims student victims and the program in which discipline action took place was it assignments was there further instruction Andor Support Services in District programs home home assignment or home instruction or an outed District placement in this period um this is two this is this is the data from January 1st to June 30th of 2022 23 there were 29 incidents of VI violence 10 incidents of vandalism two weapons violations and 20 substance abuse violations the number of HIV confirmed incidents was 63 all 63 took place during the required 10day investigate investigatory period the Board of Education rendered a decision in all 63 of those cases a number of HIV alleged incidents was 90 so 90 were alleged 63 were confirmed 10 at the 10-day investigation took place in all 90 the Board of Education rendered his decision in all 90 of those uh for the board you can see I provided with you also totals for uh the previous years when we started being required to collect this data going back to 20112 and the same for the HIV um it's only in the 20178 you had to differentiate between confirmed and non-confirmed HIV data so you have that information I've now reported to the board as required uh twice within this school year thank you Mr Seno additionally I did want to report that I did meet with the TSA today and you might say Mr C do you know why are you meeting with the TSA are we going on a flight I learned no I learned that the TSA has now been doing Outreach uh for Transportation safety uh Beyond uh flying they're doing rail Transportation shipping transportation and Road Transportation which include School busing and they work they're planning on working with myself and our director of transportation and innovative ways and increase the safety that we have for our school buses and our contracted buses um I know everyone here in this public and our board uh will appreciate anything we could do to make our buses safer and um some of the some of the innovative uh trainings that we'll do will take place over the course of the school year and we can only report back to them after some of those trainings do occur but I'm happy to have had the opportunity to meet with um someone from TSA and they came down here and did a very nice presentation and they're very willing to want to work with us I reached out to other superintendant from middle County and no one was doing this kind of um training uh they weren't even aware that it existed so we're glad that we know about it and we can better our district through it uh the last thing I have in just just public interest of safety and um being good to one another I'm sure that many of you heard about the uh incident where there was a family murder suicide in Union Township um last week and you may say why am I reporting to you about that well we also at the Forefront of having many operations here in New Jersey to strengthen our student emotional support one of them is our our our dog therapy dog program um you know that I work with Daisy with uh crisis response canines where we do critical incident stress management and that's geared towards First Responders after a critical incident whether it be a shooting whether it be a house fire to bring um support to those because you're finding that First Responders um have an increased level of taking their own life after witnessing a traumatic event so that was our first New Jersey event um we got a call at the end of the school day asking for uh Daisy myself to go do critical incident stress management uh with First Responders who respond to that scene um were unfortunately a mom had taken the life of the whole family and then herself um and I say this only because we are in fragile times with a lot of people at their breaking point and you can't think of anything in the human mind and the human psyche that would say that would they do that to their own children and their family so just be kind to one another be supportive of one another because you don't know what someone's going through um to make them make that terrible decision so that's it thank you thank you Mr sedo uh progress toward toward goals that was all encapsulated in any correspondence no no no any special committee reports yes um okay the care and Dei committee is meeting next week um we're going the care the care and Dei kind of flipflop as far as who starts what first so this one's going to be um the 6:30 is going to be care and we're going to go over over uh the website and look at different um companies that we if we change hosting companies and then at 7:30 the Dei meeting will meet and we're going to go over the family survey that went out around conferences and then look more in detail and breaking down the Hib numbers that have come in so we invite you all to the administration building next Wednesday thank you any other committee reports no that's it well the Dave the Family Academy night that's tomorrow right that is tomorrow yes that'll be um taking place um with a retired member from the DEA help assisting families on identifying um threats to their own children's safety at home hearing of residents on any agenda items I guess we got no takers okay so the question from the floor was what is care and Dei care is community awareness relations and engagement and the Dei is diversity equity and inclusion uh sirar can you please come to the microphone over here or man right there the podium e Charles breitweiser from Albridge and uh I just never heard of this uh care Dei thing before diversity Equity inclusion what does that mean how does it relate to our students care everybody needs care and that's understandable well the the care committee uh is almost like a community relations we hear um concerns from the community and incorporate it with the school district because some of the issues like the website might not fall under the other committee work that the Board of Ed does as far as Dei we make sure that all um abilities and races feel included and as part of our community and seek out and solve any problems that we hear our families and students are experiencing oh and that's all up to the students to come and bring it to the board right uh the students the families the community it's a public meeting so anyone can come oh okay I diversity Equity inclusion I'm hearing a lot about that but it's very like there it's something that sounds good but has no real definition can you fill me in on that you you feel that you're not seeing the efforts from it or I don't know what it is so we started the committee the committee's been around a few years but last year we made it an official committee instead of an ad hoc committee so if there's a segment of students or families that are feeling that they're not being included as part of the community or they're being treated differently that's when we hear about it and that's where we try to solve the problem so around conference time we sent a a survey out to all of the parents and then if the with the parents permission the parents gave the survey to their students grades three and up I believe to see how they're feeling about their school and then that gives us the chance and it was an anonymous survey but it gives us a chance to see if there's an issue in one of our schools or in one of our segments of students that we need to address to make sure that nobody's being treated differently all right I I can chat with you more after the meeting if you want to I wish would I don't want to waste everyone's time but this is very interesting to me sorry no problem thank you anyone else agenda items only yep hi hi Kimmy ventola I am here speaking upon SEPTA I just wanted to really thank Christopher giodo and Troop 129 again for completing our communication board at the Glenn school um it is a clear example of Dei sir so that is diversity equity and inclusion um communication boards are an effective way for all individuals to communicate whether they're verbal or non-verbal everybody has an equal opportunity to communicate with each other so that's a clear example of Dei as a positive note there um have a great night thank you thank you anyone else okay moving on okay uh we have nothing under policy uh curriculum professional development can I get somebody to move curriculum professional development one two and three J move can I get a second slay okay roll call Miss mazone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jod yes Mr sukowski yes resolutions one through three passed thank you moving on to finance one through nine can I get somebody to move Finance one through nine please y Gan I'll move it second thank you no roll call please miss mazone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jod yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions one through nine pass thank you uh Athletics one that's all all we have is one can I get me to move Athletics Dan will move can I get a second Jo second any discussion roll call please miss Mone yes Mr Slade yes Miss tuno yes Mr gardano yes Mr Su Mr sulowski yes Miss jodrey yes resolution one passed thank you non certified personnel office uh Jan I'll make a motion just one can I get a second SL second any discussion roll call please miss JRE yes Miss bone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Mr sulowski yes resolution one passed thank you personnel operational number one that's what we have can I get a motion to move it Jano motion second any discussion roll call please Mr gardano yes Miss jodry yes Miss bone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr sulowski yes resolution one passed thank you non-certified Personnel other there one one through seven can I get somebody to move non-certified Personnel second thank you any discussion roll call please miss tuno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jodrey yes Miss Mone yes Mr Slade yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions 1 through seven passed thank you certified Personnel one through one one through 14 and Mr silicas get number four as revised by the addendum okay J Dan make a motion can I get a second Miss will second any discussion roll call please Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jodrey yes Miss bazon yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions 1 through 14 passed non-certified Personnel Transportation one two and one through four can I get a motion to move it J will move it can I get a second please Dan second any discussion thank you R Miss mazone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jodrey yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions 1 through four passed thank you Transportation One one and two can I get a motion to move Transportation one and two Miss will move it second thank you any discussion roll call please miss bone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss Jodi yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions one through two pass okay supplies equipment and services can I get a motion to move one and two please M move it J real second thank you any discussion R call please who was the first the Mone sorry thank you Miss maone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jod yes Mr sulowski yes resolution one and two passed thank you miscellaneous one through eight can I get a motion to move miscellaneous please jri will move please SL second thank you any discussion roll call please Miss maone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Miss jod yes Mr sulowski yes resolutions one through eight passed thank you uh board secretary and board business one and two can I get a motion to move that JRE will move it the Z will second thank you any discussion I'd like to separate two for discussion yes okay uh I know that we've been having some I guess private conversations about the committee meeting the Committees um I know you were trying to do something a little different this year if you could just publicly address because I just was I'm still look confused about the chair and the co-chairs that were designed you mentioned something about Committees of the whole so there wouldn't be a committed committee chair so if we could just add Clarity to what your intentions are reason why I did this the reason why I did this just in case somebody doesn't show up there's two people there and when it comes to uh in other words the two people are cheering it on almost every committee I set it up that way so one will start let's say take attendance and the two of you work things out together when it comes to your committee the chair the two chairs it's not a co-chair it's two chairs I'm just I just I'm just thinking about too many shs it's something it's something different something that you know I used a lot of the old uh uh I guess you can call it agendas and things 15 20 years ago in fact one year I believe every one of them had two chairs on it right down the line so you're just I did the same thing so you're going to ask us basically to just work it amongst ourselves to yes to run you're you're the chair you're you're the cheer people okay I have something go ahead so when we talked about this um you mentioned that you would like to make uh the Committees all the Committees Committee of the whole um when we talked about that I also um let you know that I was interested in being in the negotiations committee and you said that it wasn't set in stone yet but in case the negotiations committee cannot be made a committee of the whole I would like to request that um as an experienced board member in my second year of serving on the Boe um having taken governance one already and having both chaired and served on several committees um as well as being a former teacher and administrator I would like to again request that I I am placed on the negotiations committee thank [Applause] you any any anybody anybody else have anything else yeah one more thing just to add clar I guess you even Chris maybe can answer I think you had mentioned we can't have more than four is there a limit of how many board members can show up to a committee yes for for a normally functioning committee you have to keep it less than a quorum the reason for that is that you're conducting business for instance in negotiations and Personnel uh you don't want to be filing open public meeting notices of negotiation sessions and Personnel issues where you're speaking about individual employees so the cap is four if it's above four it's a public meeting even if the The public's invited to the committee meeting yes if the public is invited you can go above four but then you are limiting what you what you're able to do when you are dealing with confidential issues like Personnel and negotiations right so I mean negotiations obviously it's not open to the public but a regular committee meeting that's open to the public we can have more than five more than four members yes like your an example is your policy committee meetings those are generally open and you've done them formally as Committees of the whole but even when you do a so-called just normal policy committee meeting all board members and all members of the public are invited you can continue to do that thank you so in other words if for example if somebody's running a curriculum and the fifth board member shows up if it it's Committee of the whole is it if it has been sunshin then that's fine if it has not been sunshin somebody's got to leave because it's it's a public meeting that you have not provided adequate public notice for so you just have to watch it if it's over four it needs to be advertised or can we make all the Committees Committee of the whole sure you can you that's what we're going to do then can but you you would have to ex exclude certainly personnel and negotiations from that that and also probably special services you're going to run into a lot of confidential issues so you can either start it as a committee of the whole and go into executive session or you can keep it as a committee of less than a quorum of the board you have already in your bylaws you have the right to operate any committee meeting as a committee of the whole it's just a question of sunshine notice within or no less than 48 hours beforehand okay that's what we're going to do then and most of the Committees will be Committee of the whole if five or six board members come to the meetings it's fine so and it's no offense to any of the members but just Optics Personnel negotiations are the ones that can't be commited the whole and you Christina and Elena ran on a ticket together so Optics it doesn't look good as far as transparency and as a board so I don't know if we can revisit that those two assignments okay so that's why we're here so can we not vote on go ahead can we not vote on number two or what happens if we vote it down then what's um yeah I I spoke to a couple board members about this before the meeting you're not voting on it it is an acknowledgement uh it is listed on your agenda for the knowledge of the board and of the public it's agenda attachment but under your bylaws and under Robert's Rules This falls under presidential privilege for Mr Sakowski so it is his decision it's his decision to change it if he chooses to also right absolutely thank you thank you for anyone else hopefully uh nobody's confused now roll call please miss JRE yes Miss mazone yes Mr Slade yes Miss duno yes Mr gardano yes Mr sulowski yes resolution one and two pass thank you hearing of residents on any school district issue testing okay so this is any school district issue is that correct okay I just want to make sure I'm in sure I just want to make sure I'm in okay so my name is adario Moore and I am a citizen of middle sex County um I'm here to speak a little bit in reference to policy 5756 uh which deals with the rights and protection of transgender students being a 25 year educator as a black open transgender woman three years working as a black transgender woman first to walk in to a public school setting as a transgender woman I'm here to speak on the rights of those youth in reference to it not being an issue of parental uh issue is more of the faculty having the right to tell a parent and so I just want to just come in just to commit not commend excuse me just pull on the hearts just to consider not doing away with that policy to protect the youth um I believe in the school setting especially youth are number one um children don't ask to come here I think it's up to them when they want to tell the parent and if the parent is concerned up to that parent to have that discussion with that child I think that a teacher should not have the right to contact a parent and say hey your child is transgender talk to your child that's not okay that's going against their policy and against lad there's a protection in the state for that reason me being one who a child was exposed I was parentally abused because of that and so I know how that feels so I'm not just speaking to say oh let me get up here and just fight but I know what it feels like to be in that position um many people think and I'm not here to argue or debate about this that children Choose Or people choose to be that way I feel that no one has the right to decide that especially not the government and so I just just want to just want you to reconsider kind of grappling with that or doing away with that policy why 70% of symptoms of lgbtq including transgender non-identifying students have had anxiety 70% that's with the 23 24 school year 57% have dealt with depression trans depression 81% wanteded Mental Health Care 56% of those students were not able to get any type of care which means that they had to Grapple with that again bringing up the suicidal rate which the increase in suicide has increased based on lgbtqia including transgender students this also falls into the Dei direct Equity inclusion this is an example of that because these students have to be protected also and also those students who were not able to get the aid were predominantly black and Latino students so again we need the diversity Equity inclusion and these students with policy five excuse me 5756 have a right to be protected so I just stand on behalf of that and just ask you all to please reconsider grappling with it or doing away with it and let's just consider we don't want any more youth to commit suicide or being in that danger of committing suicide thank you good evening my name is Kim Lindley I'm from Oldbridge I was a former special ed teacher and I had something to say but I think I'm going to change my route but include I am for resending 5756 I want to thank you for your time and patience for taking a a lot of time to go over this and there's so many complex issues involved in this you know as far as anxiety and different issues I wasn't going to do this but I did have a child whoa sorry with um emotional issues and she had challenges and she went to school here and I spoke up as a parent and you know she didn't have a voice she couldn't communicate and we all don't see things the same way we all don't present ourselves the same way and as far as um as a teacher I loved my students I went to teaching because I like to inspire students I like children it was my passion however I was not their parent and my child was not their parent there was not their child and what I had written sorry was the parent teacher relationship and I mentioned this before but there's been um document research about the importance of it and the importance of that is that when a parent is involved math and reading scores have improved less behavioral problems less absenteeism and the teacher is able to focus more on teaching as as opposed to on behavioral classroom management and the teach and the students are the on to benefit and then also parent conferences when this policy if it's not rescinded you know that the child especially depending on the age is able to make a decision so when that parent goes in how do they know that teachers tell them the truth you know it's not there you know and that's huge and a child and the Brain development for identity and for personality and it's not um de U brought upon as far as 25 to 30 whether it's fully developed and a child at 13 can be totally different at 25 to 30 also that traumas have also happened based on um a child being confused or not sure which what they are and then like I'm also standing here for other students the other students that don't fall into that category you know there's a it's a whole complex issue that's not going to be solved resolved by just changing everything because you're you're missing out the whole student population and in elementary school the child's like I remember standing at that the bottom of a stairwell cuz I had hallway Duty and the child running down and can't wait to see me and that was so great to me so they are huge influences that teacher and then the students that are 13 to 18 were responsible as parents to get them to school to uh provide clothing shelter food and you're talking about a u huge decision you know about their identity that they can't change and not saying anything that's happening here but it's just a fact that when you give uh opportunities for children to uh be confused especially uh little ones as opposed to who do I believe my parent or the teacher you're they're living a double life so they're not getting clear concise consistency in the child needs consistency no matter how old they are you know so and as a parent as was a child that had anxiety issues she had depression she had school um what she she had some school avoidance but you can't see that by looking at her or any other student I guess that's my bell all right but I just want to thank you for your time and I did have something alog together that was a little bit more concise but when I heard the former speaker I had to speak up for the other children I had to speak up for my child you know and I and as a teacher always assessing the needs of them and bullying is in place that the policy for their feelings to address certain issues so I thank you for your time and I'm sorry for that I'm not cool right now but it's not a classroom and I appreciate everything you did and you do thanks so much thank you anyone else my name is Charles breitweiser I'm Pride resident of Albridge first of all ladies and gentlemen I love you and I'm a man of faith and by that the Lord gives me his wisdom and by the Lord's wisdom I'm going to help you to see beneath the veil of deception that's been put over on so many of us you are put on the front line of a generational War a generational battle our battle is not of of uh Flesh and Blood it is of spiritual principles and wicked powers that have risen to high level now you are on the front line of a generational battle deceiving children to believe that boys can be girls and vice versa is a deception a wicked plot to destroy this generation and every generation to come I can't think of anything more demonic than depopulating the world and you're being used to do that I I pray the Lord opens your eyes and opens your heart let him who has eyes see and hears to hear I pray the Lord opens your heart to see the wickedness that's being that you're are being used for I'm asking you to defend and you're on you're in the position to choose between good and evil and I'm asking you to see with your eyes and hear with your ears and recognize the deception that's being put over I pray the Lord gives you his wisdom to fight it and resist it I I'm saying it's going to take courage but it also will require a lot of support and you have the support of your constituents your residents and your voters you have us we will give you the courage you need to open your eyes and see what the truth is because there's so many lies coming your way you don't have time to sore through them all and with that I I pray that the Lord grants you his wisdom thank you thank you anyone else sorry I didn't see you did you want to go first okay my name is Reverend Gregory quintland I'm with the senator for Garden State families we're a Christian family organization located here in New Jersey and I was asked to be here by parents and concerned citizens from The District in Oldbridge as you see my shirt says changed I am an ex-gay a former homosexual I was just at a conference with multiple people who are also detransitioning because they were groomed and lied to about their gender identity once you do surgical transition you really can't take it back once you remove your body parts you can't put them on once you amputate testicles penises and breast you can't restore what was taken away many of these children were groomed by people in their own public schools in their government schools to make decisions that harm their body and alter their life forever forever no one is born lgbtqia a-x YZ Plus+ plus sounds ridiculous it's because it is everything that's lgbtqia is a developmental gender identity disorder developed not inate acquired not in born the American Psychiatric association said this this is the MDS quote there are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biologic ideology for anything that's lgbtqia nothing that's the end quote by the way also in 2018 in August of 2018 there was a large Human Genome study with 477,000 sets of human genomes that beats the city of New York New Jersey's largest city by 172,000 that study concluded at the end of that Human Genome study quote there is no single gay gene end quote there's no cluster of genes none of this this contagion that has been going on for the last 30 years is drummed up hype people are making a lot of money a lot of money but now Europe has realized the mistake that they made 40 years ago they're reversing their decisions they're stopping the transgender therapies they're stopping the transition of children they're stopping the damage they're doing to human lives I would urge you to repeal 5756 because it tells it gives permission to those in the schools that want to advocate for this agenda to lie to a parent to not tell the parent what's going on with their child their child the parents child not the school's child they're not your property God gave them those children and the parents deserve to know what's happening to their child in any environment particularly in the schools where they pay taxes one last Point those parents they're the ones that vote for Schoolboard members thank you thank you anyone else hello I'm the Reverend Ros Marie Newberry I live in Middletown New Jersey and the reason I'm here at Oldbridge is because religious groups don't follow lines of geography don't follow Municipal boundaries so the church that I um have um doesn't has gold Old Bridge gold Bridge oh Old Bridge um members so I'm here representing them as well as representing the children I um honor the two men that spoke before me but I disagree I wanted to acknowledge that this not this specific instantiation but um in November you had quite the discussion you all in the fall had done long analysis on 5756 I heard great wisdom from the superintendent about how children will be handled and and handled is not the right word how they will be supported and have been supported so I acknowledge Oldbridge for the great work that they're doing for the board by not uh by affirming the support for 5756 and I want to say that my God is a god of love and all the all the children in your schools and all the parents have love and God loves them and would not demonize any of them so thank you thank you anyone else hi um my name is Ash Maguire I am a president of Oldbridge um I did not go to school here but I wanted to speak on the issue of um policy 5756 um I think that is something that should be affirmed as a transgender student myself I did not have quite the same support when I was going through the school system and I really wish that I had I've had teachers tell me I can't use your preferred name and pronouns even though at that point I didn't know that that wasn't true um but it at that point wasn't true and they were able to do that for me they just chose not to um sorry like it was said before um 51% of teens um sorry 57% of teens that are transgender or LGBT specific deal with depression and they need help support both inside of the classroom and yes they do need support at home but sometimes it is not safe to tell those at home and that's what this policy is trying to support um not putting those students in a situation where they might be in danger at home I'm not sure if I'm making very much sense right now but thank you thank you um it's a very I believe that this is a very important policy to have in place and I implore you to please uphold this policy thank you Pastor Brad winchip from haror Bible Church over in Lawrence Harbor representing constitu of your Township members over there um I wasn't even going to say anything but since a few other people address these these issues um I don't usually get out to Schoolboard meetings too often I appreciate so much your work I don't have time for things of this nature I'm glad other people are called to do this kind of work so thank you I wish I had care packages for each of you that I could give you also um let me just point something out um you know we have a social Contra uh social contract where the whole concept of the public schools was that um it'd be neutral ideologically and religiously and you know religion you know gets into the areas of you know ethics and sexual Moray and things of that nature and uh the safe thing is for the the school to stay out of that business that was the social contract that really public schools had when they first started in the 19th century that they'd be religiously neutral but you know there's such such such a Temptation for wanting to get into those things because there is a need there um to want to have the school do everything and you know be the parent be the you know the teacher of Ethics so we want to teach the the children ethics but there's got to be a la where have to be outside the school we're not going to be dealing with these issues um you know these are matters of religion these are matters of um metaphysical ethics and you know unless we go there you know we then we'll be bringing into the schools you know um individuals clergy who would teach the Christian worldview concerning gender and and that would be the fair thing to do and so that we would actually have the whole debate but usually it doesn't work that way it usually goes one side where the religious groups are you know excluded and and you just have the one side where you have the secular human group so what I'm just saying is that with the social contract that we have let me just encourage the board to realize that this is just not something for the school to deal with I mean I know there's there's needs that people have and different values and things like that but some of that's just got to be taken care of outside the schools leave it in the churches leave it in other Civic organizations for those who need you know LGBT and support and training and things of that nature let's leave that all outside the school and just concentrate on Reading Writing arithmetic thank you so much thank you anyone else Mr S I just want to again I I have to make this announcement all the time I just want to remind everyone of the audiences members here tonight who are not from Oldbridge and probably don't know this or maybe they just don't um while your right to speak your opinion is is great but the difference is that this is an extension of a classroom so there are stud students here working they work this as part of their classroom so some of the comments that we say we can get the point where adults maybe tone it down a little bit because what you're afraid of the kids learning in the classroom you've just said to them for the first time they've ever heard tonight I assure you I assure you we do not perform any surgeries in the classroom we don't have lectures on surgeries but from the students reactions up there like what is it talking about and tomorrow I may have their parents calling me to tell ask me why I'm allowing people to talk to their kids about those type of surgeries when that hasn't H they haven't signed off on that so just we get it we're we're adults we can read through the lines but be less graphic for our students that are here please hi my name is Alice Marie and I am from Colts snack New Jersey and I just wanted to respond about some of the comments from the audience and put in some my thoughts um I am a teacher also high school kid so I um have gone um through some continuing education and where there was some transgender kids that were talking about transitioning and taking hormones and all that and I said to myself this is new to me and I really didn't want to take a look at it and then I read some testimonies of um some people that have had experience DET transitioning and the pain that they went through and I'm listening to um the lady the woman who came from the church and I do agree that God is love but to love somebody is to also tell them the truth and I care about this young person here and I care about you and I I see that the thousands of people that are detransitioning years later and the pain they've gone through um and it's just something that's unnecessary and I but do believe that there could be other ways as Mr quinland had mentioned I thought he is someone who can identify he has been there but he's put a wealth of time and experience and growth and studying what is um the truth and studying um a lot of information that I think everybody needs to fill that void or fill the place that they're looking for that they're thinking that transitioning will fill and one of the answers is is or the answer I believe is God but don't let me be the one to say this I'm going to talk about a woman Khloe Cole who detransitioned and she's the one who turned my head around when I said I don't know this I don't want to bother with this I feel uncomfortable and so I'm going to quote from when she spoke in front of Congress and I'll just highlight some of the parts she says that she's a d transitioner her name's Khloe Cole and another way to put it is I used to believe that I was born the wrong body and in the wrong body and the adults in my life who I trusted affirmed my belief and this caused me lifelong irreversible harm I speak to you today as a victim of one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the United States of America I speak to you in the hope that you will have the courage to bring this Scandal to an end and Ensure the other vulnerable teenagers children and young adults don't go through what I went through she talks about at the age of 12 she began to experience a me what her medical team would later diagnose as gender dysphoria um and then she said that they asked her parents a simple question would you rather have a dead daughter or a living transgender son that choice was enough for her parents my parents she says to let their guard down and to in his retrospect I can't blame them this is the moment that we all became victims of the so-called gender affirmation care I was FASTT tracked to the puberty blockers and then testosterone the resulting menopause life of of that hot flashes made focus on school impossible so it affected her school then she had the double mass actom at 15 and that's when I said oh my goodness this has changed this child's life forever she said when her specialist first told her parents that they could have a dead daughter or a live Trester son I wasn't suicidal I was a happy child who struggled because she was different however at 16 after my surgery I did become suicidal I'm doing better now but my parents almost got the dead daughter promised to them by my doctors my doctors almost created the very nightmare they said they would were trying to avoid so what message do I want to bring to American teenagers and their families I didn't need to be lied to I needed compassion to be loved I needed to be given therapy to help work through my issues not to affirm my delusion that transforming into a boy it was would solve all my problems so um we need to she says we need to stop telling 12y olds that they are born wrong that they are right to reject their own bodies and feel uncomfortable in their own skin we need to stop telling children that puberty is an option that they can choose what kind of puberty that they will go through just like they can't choose what clothes to wear just like they can CH what choose what clothes to wear or what music to listen to thank you okay thank you thank you very much and I just pray and Hope that we can protect our kids and that you will 57 done you're done anyone else Nina jock NOS actually I do live in Oldbridge um a few things first of all this gentleman I think your name is Mr Quinn so I just want to bring to attention that he misquoted the scientific paper there were 470 plus thousand people that were evaluated in this giant and by the way I'm a neuropharmacologist by trade I have two drugs on the market that said I'll send I have the study right in front of me but let's not talk excuse me excuse me I understand I'm going to talk to the board just talk to the board this is a deal in that study what they found was they couldn't find a single they found multiple genes that would identify potential people who would be gay however however they couldn't find a single one the same way you can't find a single Gene that can cause a lot of things right like hair color you can find a single Gene that will cause eye color changes but not hair color that said there was a study that was brought up where there was a gay gene identified for men and that was down in in oh crud hold on a minute my my screen went went blank I apologize everybody the linkage between sexual orientation and chromosome xq28 in men but not females you're now again I'm going to talk to you guys I'm just here hoping that you're going to reaffirm or not even discuss it or not not re re redo it the the the discussion on 5756 it's over it was done it was voted on in November the lawyer has spoken about how much money it's going to cost this town this board of education this school district if we have to go to trial if you decide to go back on on a decision that was made in November the second thing is is as was brought up by the superintendent and the uh the lawyer that the state which is going to go after off us if you decide to revert it back you you you uh go against this this rule is that the state is going to come in and and block you so you're going to still have to support 5756 whether or not some people may not want on it um that's it so just it's going to cost us a lot of money it's costing us a lot of wasted time to sit here and go back through with people coming from out of town who have nothing to do with our children and children who are coming here and begging us to just respect them these children just want respect they don't a they're not asking you to to tell them if they're queer or they're straight or they're transgender they're just asking for you to just teach them they love you they want respect and that's what you're going to give them you're going to give them their privacy and respect that's it you know and by the way thank you for coming coming to the school by the way I I appreciate it myself um I think that I think that we have enough people who've come in this audience who have shown you that um that you need to protect their the students rights I think you have to do that and um beyond what is what has been asked I'm probably rambling on so I will stop keep affirm in 5756 thank you very much anyone else okay hi I'm Sean Bensley um I live in Hillsboro but I worked here in Oldbridge for 20 years as a school counselor and retired in June um I wish I didn't have to come up here and say these things over and over again um but just to clarify I remember back in November Mr cadino told all of us all of you um that never in his time here has a parent come to him and complained about this policy as long as it's been in effect so when I hear a lot of people come up here and talk about it I wonder why it's such a such an issue um because as the speaker before just said it's about respect and protecting kids um I didn't intend to speak tonight but when I hear s things that are incorrect I have to say something um no one here in the schools as you know is medically transitioning students nor are we facil no is nor is the district facilitating that so when we talk about you know the details of things like this gentleman did before that's incorrect no one from the school is facilitating facilitating that um public school is nonsecular um there are children and staff members here that belong to all different religions or no religion at all so that's something to keep in mind too when making your decision and I really hope this isn't coming up again to be talked about because it was affirmed as you know in November um as a counselor for many many years my goal was always to involve the parents as much as possible and I did and there's nothing in this policy that says that the staff can never talk to the parents the policy says that a they don't have to and as a counselor for many years myself I know that my goal as I said would always to be involved the parents and I would work with the child to do that in some cases in most cases you can in some cases you cannot and this just makes it clear to staff members what they can and cannot do um and the thing that was said before about only teaching Reading Writing and arithmetic or whatever you want to say someone who's worked in public schools and worked with children for many many years and if you work in a school you know this what come what children experience on the outside and their internal world and their emotions comes into the school every so you can't just say keep the social issues out because they are brought in and there are vulnerable kids that need you to protect them thank you anyone else um hi my name is Caleb Hartman and to preface I am a Latino and Native American person because I feel like people are mentioning race a lot so I do want to mention my race um so I've actually lived in this area for literally a decade um I've grown up here I have volunteered at Oldbridge day at our local library and frankly I have utterly failed at Oldbridge Little League was not good um I have a pretty big stake and claim to be here my family's literally grown up here for Generations and again to paraphrase I am begging you to hear my voice policy 5756 just doesn't work it opens up the door for rape and sexual assault and it doesn't give any parents any Fair opportunity to know what's going on with their kids so let me share a little story something that might not be appropriate for everyone fair warning in 2021 a 12-year-old girl in New Mexico was brutally assaulted by a trans Pier she was too afraid to come forward with her story because she would label because she was afraid to be labeled a bigot now pause imagine that to be your kid your son your daughter in my opinion I would be mad I'd want to know who allowed this and why and if I was the parent of that rapist I would want to know why my child who identified in a manner different from what they raised them as why that wasn't brought up to me and honestly as a teenager I think it's kind of important for parents to know about the decision their kids make because if my kid was maybe harming himself I would want to know that if my kid broke his arm I would want to know that I would want to be told by the school also what's with the fear of parents abusing their kids if they're outed because unfortunately kids are abused because of a variety of things and all of them are horrible and wrong but we're still sending kids home with report cards which according to multiple studies is a hot spot for abuse and dius in New Jersey literally investigates abuse so let them do their job and be consistent and not change your guidelines to avoid stepping on toes again why the defense why would you jump so hard and so far to defend a case that allows for assault why all the response to be vulnerable I know sexual assault victims and they are changed for life so why are we leaving open doors to allow this to happen in our schools shouldn't we be doing everything in our power to protect all of our kids because that's traumatic it can mess you up for life and as a school board every single one of you will have to answer to any of these parents if anything bad happens again do your job and repeal this so again also as a little ending thing as someone who has dealt with anxiety I'm a student I'm Latino I Native American and frankly I'm shocked not only by this I want to say denial of this all these things and people saying this doesn't happen but also silencing my voice I'm not a big fan of playing the race card but the Dei team ain't amplifying my voice in fact it kind of feels like it's silencing it a little so if you're actually consistent actually cared about these kinds of things you would be amplifying my voice and difference of opinion and not curating and throwing away people who don't fit your narrative again one last little sidebar superintendent I'm 18 and on camera I was explicitly ass verbally assaulted by a man named jet Kumar who asked me if quote my mommy wrote my speeches for me and you have that on camera and I have it on my phone recording so why are allowing him to come CU I've seen him again when Bad Santa as he is known was explicitly and immediately banned because of him saying a something to a minor that was taken as offensive so please please be consistent ban him thank you thank you anyone else good evening Dan finny Aberdine I do appreciate each one of you board members for your service to this community I and others have appealed to you as the adults in the room and Gatekeepers to resend 5756 yet issues surrounding the policy have become contentious and misconstrued so I want to review some of the reasons that we have asked you to act and for starters I want to say people have not been honest about the origins of the policy and how well uh it was known early on and many many parents still have no idea what is in it or what the implications of this policy are words have meanings and if you actually look and assess what this policy says and implies and what the consequences will be um those words the meanings of those words translate into policies that have consequences so here are some of those reasons that have been highlighted before this policy is not mandatory and protections for all kids are provided elsewhere attempts to amarate the problem atic statements and ambiguity would likely be met with a lawsuit the courts have ruled in favor of the right to abolish and a federal court upheld that ruling whether conservative or liberal you should take this opportunity to push back against government overreach or you will lose your local autonomy and discretion because the reality of affirming feelings based gender choices is child endangerment because affirming gender experimentation and expression without question is antithetical to state law requiring schools to stress abstinence because we should not be lying to kids about something contrary to basic science the natural world around us and what is clearly stated in our Bibles because there is no possible way to change a person's genetic makeup the fundamental basis of gender affirming gender fluidity is absurdity because these kids deserve the truth from those entrusted with their education most actually know the truth intuitively because they are made in the image and likeness of our creator yet they are being encouraged to embrace a world of make belief because this policy is not age appropriate for K through 12 we need to stop the over sexualization of our children in school along with indoctrination agenda they may not realize it but they did not come up with these ideas on their own they are being fed to help protect children from the explosive rise in STDs if gender identity based on feelings is affirmed without question how can you expect adolescence to abstain from sexual experimentation based on feelings to prevent further alienation of those children struggling through adolescence this policy creates a basis for resentment to prevent contributing to an environment of applauding and giving attention to Young impressionable kids being misled and encouraged on a path that most will Gravely regret to refocus attention on the appropriate role and function of public education and to avoid legal Jeopardy it's the exact opposite of what people have been parting in the past about legal consequences just look at the news also keep in mind that none of the cheerleaders and enablers of this fantasy world will be around in a few short years when these kids graduate when Stark reties set in and he or she realized they cannot reclaim their childhood or heal the damage emotional or physical please represent the best interests of our children and repeal this policy thank you thank you anyone else thank you my name is Gerald Mago I represent the Dolores turo Foundation uh whose mission is to protect children from abuse and neglect and exploitation and we believe that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God and therefore we do not discriminate against anyone for any reason uh I would like to thank you all for for your service and welcome the new board members I'm sure that um as public servants uh that you would not intentionally cause harm to students but you may not realize damage that sexualizing children in public schools is causing them and their families uh I just want to clarify a incorrect information given before about the transition or suicide um that claim is and I have the research with me is not support by scientific evidence in fact The Landmark Swedish study shows that after following transgender patients as far as 30 years after surgery um that sex reassignment um patients were 19 times more likely to commit suicide I also want to clarify another issue on the protocols um that uh the protocols of this state and the policies uh that you have adopted do promote uh the transition of the affirming gender affirming care and the protocols for gender affirming care are to start with pronouns and then follow a path of um puberty blockers which are extremely experimental and then uh the removal of healthy body parts which is the mutilation of children that is the policy in the state of New Jersey that all the schools uh would be following you could see that in the transgender policies um so a few things I just want to point out that gender confusion is not new in fact most children experience discomfort or confusion with their bodies and they resolve it by the time they're in their 20s however what is new is a social contagion that suggests transition as empowerment coupled with educational environment that celebrates it an opportunity for government bureaucrats to expand their power over parents and a medical industry that unscrupulously puts profits before patient care and this perfect cultural storm prays upon V vulnerable children often suffering from underlying mental or or developmental issues it fractures families which is the Bedrock of society and parents are threatened with loss of custody if they do not agree with their child's identity perception or gender protocols 21 states prohibit the transitioning of children and other states are following uh transgender policies conflict with rights of Educators and healthc Care Professionals to educate their freedom of speech and religion and also violates parental rights uh today I do want to point out one thing that is good news uh I'd like to talk about the uh that everyone involved in education should be aware of the top Professionals in K to2 sex education agree that marriage is the optimal standard for sexual education of children research demonstrates that married couples are the happiest healthiest most prosperous live longer and have the best sex life the future goals of 8 5% of children are to get a job and get married 95 91% of parents want their children to be taught that sex should be linked to the type of love and commitment found in marriage in fact if teens graduate from high school get a job get married and then have children in that order there is only 3% chance they will end up in poverty so in contrast sex outside of this context leads to STDs pornography sex trafficking teen pregnancies abortion addiction mental and physical illnesses poverty sex crimes and exorbitant taxpayer costs to address these problems so let us stop collaborating with a delusion that violates parental rights attacks the constitutional right of the freedom of speech and religion and ultimately leads to the mutilation of children and let us choose Unity Harmony and excellence in Academia and begin the new year on the right track our students families community and Nation will benefit from it let us be the light on the hill that that leads to a world leads the world to a better place because this is how God intended love to be from the beginning and love is the only thing that really matters in the end thank you and God bless you thank you uh anyone else hi everyone I didn't expect to come up and talk today so I might be all over the place when I talk can I get your name please yes of O since 1979 so 45 years I'm an actual product of o school system long with seven to eight cousins currently have three kids one who um graduated a few years ago one going to graduate soon and a third child who still got about seven to eight years left so with that being said being an actual parent who has kids within the school system I don't have an issue with policy 5756 basically it is a policy that Administration for the school to run to understand how to address children of transgender with their name identity it's not teachers approaching our kids telling them you're gay you're trans you're bisexual and so forth again I'm a product my cousins are product my kids are product never once have they been encountered by a teacher telling them you are not what you are if you actually deal with the teachers of our school including to security to teachers to gyms to lunchroom none of our teachers do that our teachers are fully invested with our kids I have yet to encounter a teacher that has stepped out of line so understand that the policy needs to be in place to how to address it same thing as there's policy for kids that are non-transgender that have legal name changes due to divorce or they decided they want to use the middle name instead of the first name it's a policy for administration just like every company I've worked at we have policy procedures in place there's even mds's that people have to follow of how to do their stuff that's all it is it's not transitioning kids even the state of New Jersey I think you have to be 16 to even get medical blockers the policy doesn't State they are going to transition your child that the children just asked to be called this there's also policy 9240 which Leo has addressed Chris has addressed as well that if you're not if you have a question that your child is being addressed by a different name go ahead and ask the school I've been doing parent teacher conferences for literally 18 years got seven more years to go again deal with the teachers you will learn how your teachers protect your kids at every how you say it every second of the day no matter what so also being how do you say so as far as when people start talking about detransitioning again they're not transitioning your children the 3% that have had major changes of deciding not to be DET transitioned that's not the place it's just a policy and procedure of I want to be called so and so versus so and so and I know religion was brought into the school I myself myself in Catholic I am a member of St Ambrose I have done all my sacraments so I have my kids through the school but I know God is everywhere with me but when it comes to school it's separate because there's so many different religions within the school even my ex-husband is Muslim we keep it separate school is school to learn they've been doing a great excellent job I've yet to have a single family member of mine that's had an issue being a productive citizen including I know single parthood was brought up and about how you say age expectancy I come from a long family of Hispanic women that have lived to 104 single including me as my mom my myself as a single we have all owned houses we have all been productive we have all been protective let's see I know Dei was brought up simple explanation for Dei is that means everybody gets to be brought to the table and eats nobody gets left behind nobody gets not fed now I think I covered everything all I'm saying is I know a lot of outside people come and start talking about our policy to the board about our kids but you're not immersed in our school system if you are you would know that the teachers protect and mostly nine times out of 10 we know everything as a parent as long as you go to parent teacher conference I've gone seen Jay both our kids are high honorable I don't even need to be there but I go whyde to see the teachers I have seen teachers three times in a row because some of them have always had my kids if you learn your teachers you have nothing to worry about but it seems to be like a lot of people don't attend to go to school or they're not familiar with what's going on or they don't even know all the policies again 5756 addressing your child me call something else you have a question go to policy 9240 there's even fura that allows you full access to all your students records so there's nothing to hide behind it's not like they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes or going transition your child it is oldd is a community has been diverse and I can even tell you more about diversity not to toot my horn back in '92 I said hey I can't be a cheerleader I want to start a step team come to find out 30 years later they still got my step team so this is a town that cares about its kids and will always protect their kids including me as a mom again I don't have a policy with 5756 because then again I keep communication with my kids and when inow I just call the teachers up some of them I even have the cell numbers just remember that stay in contact with your teachers and save our kids thank you anyone else don't worry state your name please my name is Scott Mella I'm the public relations coordinator for oldb Township Public Schools and I'm a teacher at s Middle School where I teach sixth and seventh grade social studies I'm not here to speak for or against anything that was commented on here tonight this is a small room with a very big microphone in early September you go to that Auditorium and that's a huge room with a smaller microphone with thousands of people who go out and make a difference every day from that room I understand there's a mission at this microphone with this group that's okay I was here two years ago I was here 10 years ago I'll be here 10 years from now okay oh welcome by the way another Maz maone Mella representing um I just want to remind the board um that the best way to see what's really going on in our schools is to go do it go there and see what's going on Mr Slade I remember a couple years ago I saw you like and I still see you at almost every event marjy same thing Jen that will help you form your opinion about o Township Public Schools that's where the truth is and that's where what we're doing is happening uh you'll find that everything you heard tonight is not going to be there at all what is going to be there is some amazing stuff um you know we had an article in the paper about a great new music program at the high school we have amazing new orts Labs all your tax dollars are being used to to give amazing opportunities and equipment and supplies to your children it's a great District I just implore you to go out and see it for yourself and uh you know missions will come and go but we'll always be here so see you in school thank you anyone else push the button yeah my name is Carolyn Mack and I am a resident of Oldbridge um I before I leave tonight I just wanted to take the opportunity to say I also am opposed to 5756 um you've received letters from me I've written to you uh my reasoning behind that um I've spoken here before um I've referred to a mamouth university poll that was done just this past August so it's very recent showing that 77% of the parents that were surveyed um parents middle schoolers and high schoolers believed that they should be notified if uh their child wanted to be called by different pronoun or began um a transition of any kind now now this is middle school and high school so I would assume the number would be even greater for um elementary school children so that's a pretty high number and I do think for those of you who are not decided yet on 5756 six I think uh you are aligning yourself with a majority um uh if and when you vote it down um I think I think you're going to Grapple with a couple of things um one of them being um uh first the notion that a child can change their sex if you vote for 5756 you are saying you are in agreement with what 5756 uh really is promoting and protecting a and you must therefore believe that children can change their gender and you've heard from quite a few people tonight give you uh reasons uh why that that's not possible we are born male or female period either XX chromosome or XY chromosome and cutting off body parts or taking a hormone blockers does not change that um and gender H is now promoted as a social construct and you as a Schoolboard member will decide either to continue swimming in these unchartered Waters of reconstructed identity and child mutilation or you can Aid in stopping it um and and the second thing is um the requirement that this be kept secret from parents and yes that is what 5756 does it keeps this a secret from the parents if Tylenol cannot be dispensed in secret how and why would something of this nature radically changing one's identity not be disclosed to parents if a student is struggling mentally or or emotionally with gender dysphoria and the school is aware but the parents are not notified couldn't the district be found liable for damages if the student were to harm thems elves so that is another thing that you if you are not decided on the policy I think you have to answer um one survey showed up to 80% of trans individuals suffer from serious psychopathologies gender affirming care large largely fails to remedy these problems so for for those reasons and many more I am opposed to 5756 I hope you will resend it thank you uh thank you anyone else hello hello my name is Ron Mack I'm a resident of Oldbridge and um uh I'd like to say I've been in several of these uh board meetings a decision was not made in November it was a straw vote uh this will be coming up again 5756 has not been put on the table legally here and uh to say it has is disingenuous so it's going to come up there has been also an election since that November board meeting and there's been a great transition and the public has spoken in what uh what the public in Oldbridge what we want in this town has been portrayed in the election um there's uh tonight there's a gorilla in the room and there's an elephant in the room a gorilla and an elephant the gorilla in the room we're talking about is that 95% of the students are minors the Supreme Court has supported parental rights almost always and then uh parental rights in New Jersey goes back 350 years so we're going to overthrow that right now they're minors 95% are minors um when you vote on this it's going to have long-term ramification the other the elephant in the room has come up actually it never came up before now it's starting to come up detransitioning and do some research you can do it in three minutes um there's a new indust industry arising in parallel with this growing transgender which is brand new it is new and it's called litigation and uh lawsuits against the adults who've misled children down this road uh are are popping up and growing like crazy the the industry itself is a $2.1 billion doll industry and it's growing um this is Google Khloe Cole is has been mentioned Lena Jane Luca Hine anyone can Google it in three minutes and do research that fast this is not this is not ending well it's starting in schools but it's not ending well um it's medical malpractice counselors in O schools have no with no medical degrees have no business counseling people on medical it's medical malpractice so again it's going to come up 5756 that's why we had an election and you all saw the results and we don't know where it's headed but it's going to come up again for a vote and I'm saying let's resend it 5756 another our neighbors down the road just resented it last week towns in New Jersey are resending it like crazy there's a reason in the future you want to have had your vote as being in favor of the children and uh because this is going to have long-term ramications that are going to grow exponentially thank you very much thank you for the job you guys do and welcome to the new members thank you anyone else hi I'm Lux duno I'm an a gender student at o high school I'd like to mention how this room is not a full room there are many empty Fe seats filled with loud voices the people who didn't show up to say anything are showing that this is not a large enough issue to care about it's not affecting enough kids for everyone to come in here and say it has has to be removed there are empty seats in this roomm showing it is not a large enough problem that it has to be removed it's helping so many kids that there are empty seats that people don't have to say remove it that it should stay and it's not a problem thank you thank you anyone else that's it okay uh any old business new business Mr S I just want to address because there was a question question or comment um so it was kind of directed to me so if the person is a minor in which they were are you a minor sir then I'll I can address that with your parents and the first time you're saying to be consistent but no one has ever addressed me that there was a concern which you were verbally assaulted somewhere within here so I can't be consistent if it's not reported this is not a back and forth just giving you information you gave me information I'm giving you information so if you're a minor I need to speak to your parents and they can lodged a complaint um I don't think you're a student here as you as as you've stated before so I'm definitely can't speak to a minor who doesn't go to school here um but I'll I'll I will speak to your parents um the second thing is about this Mammoth University poll it's a few times has been if you remember when the board was Voting upon um social justice courses that our staff members took during their own time during the summertime the board voted against them their funds because Mammoth University was to woke and gave divisive teachings so the board said to the teachers you're not we're not going to pay you for the money that we received free from Mammoth University that you earned because we don't believe in Mammoth University so I can't believe the same people are now using mmth University as an example of what's on the other side of it um and then you know I I want to thank the person who spoke the truth about what goes on in schools I can say it 100 times we're not performing surgeries we're not giving out hormone blockers we're not talking to kids about how to get surgery hormone blockers if your child and I don't know if there's everyone in this room thinks that their child's transgender and that's why they're concerned about it because the parents of the transgender students that I know of are all knowledgeable that their children children are transgender because in this situations where they were brought to the teachers the teachers build those bridges and have those conversations so that's what's really going on there's not again the same people there's not litter boxes in the bathrooms we went through that last year it's a big lie and it was on all the news channels around the country and people calling me hey I'm hearing you have litter box in your classrooms a big lie so you use you lose your credibility when you come up and you you spread lies at the podium and then you spread lies about what's going on in the schools if if the public wants and the board board wants to a policy change that's your prerogative but I will not stand for people lying about what's going on in the classrooms our teachers don't do that our education system doesn't do that so com with facts and coming with credibility and take that information um I also wanted to bring up another topic of all business I had also emailed uh Mr sedino about this um just wanted to for a different policy topic that I would like to hear um the community the students and the staff is on that I brought up uh last meeting about the start times of school and just wanted to follow up to see if we could set up a meeting to talk about it as a community and see what the thoughts are um just because it is something that is being discussed at a state level um I know P the state PTA is picking it up as um a positive change for students and stuff like that so just want to see if it's worth pursuing if there you know what the benefits and stuff are so just a followup for that I would say to Mr solowski that he would assist in his leadership to form an ad hoc committee once that ad hoc committee is formed about looking into that then we could put together uh a first meeting in public advertise it as being open to the public thank you uh yeah I got I got old business old business go ahead new business but first old business uh yeah I just wanted to say again um with uh 5756 I was against the activities that use of facilities uh we've been told that uh revising it would bring litigation and as an individual of course I'd go prosay but dealing with the rest of the board and the town that's not a risk that I think I should take I shouldn't take that and um the vote in November was a virtue signal which is why I abstained from it some people brought that up and um I'm not going to make make these logical arguments into emotional arguments and that appears to be what's happening although I do appreciate the efforts of groups to email me um I hope in the future uh both sides won't use templates but I am I will answer every email that comes towards me and that's it for old business I do have new business when it comes up any new business yes um back to the course offering books uh just make sure students to take as many AP courses as possible it'll save you a lot of money and time in college and um college is the most expensive expense uh the most overrated expense of course so make sure you take advantage of what we have at the high school and um at an earlier curricular meeting um Mr sokowski you discussed uh bringing the trades to the students during the summer so um that's coming up pretty soon so I would also like to get that started as soon as possible and thank you to the students for their uh gifts towards us thank you yes I have something I want to add um I'm still trying to absorb all the field experts that are out there that I guess we're brave enough to come to the podium Everyone's entitled to an opinion uh whether it be fact or not but I'd still like to invite parents and I'd still like to promote that Podium to be of something of good that's happening in the district so I'd actually like to personally invite parents to come to this meeting and talk about their kids accomplishments School accomplishments I saw something about GNC Wrestling Championships that we won every all those topics get brushed underneath the rug and I'm not saying that this policy is not important and we've been discussing it but 45 minutes worth of a topic and Everyone's entitled to an opinion but that Podium is not being used to promote the goodness of this district and as Scott had mentioned I visit the schools a few of the board members visit the schools I see the artwork on the walls I see the coaches I see the teachers and as Scott mentioned we see it we're not reading it I'm not Googling it I'm not looking at social media I'm not checking Facebook the board members that want to make a difference are visiting the schools good things are happening so I invite parents to come in and just thank your teacher thank your coach thank that's a great picture I mean this is my daughter's school so I'm going to take a picture of that but like that was like a two-minute presentation so use that Podium to talk about the good stuff that's happening here and I'll continue to mention that thank [Applause] you okay thank you thank you uh can I go ahead um I want to thank carpenter school again I apologize for saying the wrong school um but thank you for the picture thank you to the transitioning um classroom uh for shoppr for our gift bags um I do want to give credit to those that spend their time and dedication to share your beliefs um we as a district took the time we publicized have a hearing of the residents listened to the students that attended our that attend our schools and that are put in our charge we voted as a board and we would continue I would like to continue to work on issues that will make Oldbridge the best it can within the budget cuts that we have and I'd like to work on facing the future and not keep reliving the past we did take the time we did hear everyone and we did vote I mean so again thank you for coming but I'd like to move on to other topics take give better thanks thank you thank you uh we're going to go into uh executive close session so after the meeting uh everybody's thank you goodbye it and we haven't met in like a month because it's snow days so we have a lot of topics so yeah so Mr SAS please uh exit as soon as possible yes thank you we need a motion to go into exe I need a motion to go into executive session please move on the second okay thank you all in